One of the great successes of Apollo 11 was that it became the first spacecraft to land humans on moon. The larger mission was a success, but the journey wasn't necessarily without its share of imperfections. Alarms kept flashing in the cockpit, the onboard computer was overloaded, fuel was running dangerously low, and the pre-decided designated landing area had to be abandoned. In time, none of these concerns mattered, since the eventual target was achieved: the astronauts landed safely on the moon.
Even before the fixes are found, India's World Cup campaign has reached a point where they would want to somehow muster a win - the process and the stutters en route may not necessarily matter on Sunday. The imperfections exist - the middle order is still wearing an unsettled look, one in three catches are being dropped, and the pacers are not proving incisive. But all of that would come to count for little - at least temporarily - if India manage to stitch a performance that helps them edge ahead at Lord's.
India have stumbled and rumbled their way to London, having withstood surprises and secured victories in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester over the past couple of weeks. They now find themselves at Lord's knowing a win would all but book their place in the semifinals.
And they couldn't have chosen a tougher opposition for this do-or-die clash than an in-form Australian team. Ironically, despite being the most dominant team in the tournament so far and having rolled past each of their four opponents, Australia hasn't secured qualification yet, mathematically speaking.
But to expect anything else would be too far a stretch of miracle. If South Africa beat Bangladesh by 167 runs after scoring 200 and Australia lose to India by 91 runs or with 11.5 overs to spare, Australia's NRR will fail to qualify. The exact qualification requirement will be known to both teams by toss time, and in all likelihood, Australia will have booked a place in the semis by then.
But, for now, they are breathing easy. They know India are under pressure, and wish to double down. India, on the other hand, aren't ready to be bullied by the Australian threat. Seen them, known them, beaten them. And as Smriti Mandhana claims on behalf of the batters, 'everyone is itching to go'.
When: Sunday, June 28, 2026, 2:30 PM Local Time/7:00 PM IST
Where: Australia vs India, Match 30, Lord's, London
What to expect: Lord's hasn't been a high-scoring venue in Women's T20s; but over the past one year, the scoring rate has exceeded 8 runs an over mark. However, the contest won't be played on the centre pitch, making the boundary towards the side sloping downwards closer. With Jemimah Rodrigues and Phoebe Litchfield likely to play, expect a fair bit of reverse sweeps as captains will look to counter the boundary dimensions with spin.
Team News:
India: Harmanpreet Kaur had multiple, long range-hitting sessions at the main ground, while the rest of the batters spent time knocking around in the nets. All kinds of catching drills continued, and much like what Radha Yadav had said after the previous game, they weren't dropping the catches in practise.
Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Nandni Sharma, Renuka Thakur
Australia: Phoebe Litchfield has returned to training, and Sophie Molineux suggested that she is likely to return to the side. Australia, though, chose to skip training a day before the game.
Probable XI: Beth Mooney, Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, Nicola Carey, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Alana King, Kim Garth/Megan Schutt
Did you know?
Deepti Sharma is one wicket away from becoming the leading wicket-taker in women's internationals
Ash Gardner has dismissed Smriti Mandhana 10 times in 31 T20s
Australia have won 24 of the 27 matches across the five T20 World Cup editions since 2018. Of those three defeats, two have come against India.
What they said:
"We're in a bit of a different situation to India. We still need to win and make sure we finish where we want to place. We know that there's a bit of pressure on them, and hopefully we can double down on that and put pressure on them as well quite early in the game." - Sophie Molineux, Australia captain
"We did well in the T20 format in Australia. We'll take a lot of confidence from that. Also, with the WPL, I feel the girls are also very well prepared in terms of taking the high-pressure games a little better than what we could before. So hopefully we can take all of those experiences and memories and play the best we can tomorrow." - Smriti Mandhana, India opener